To leave our metaphor and descend to the thrilling prose
of detail, the French, after ten days of intensive artillery preparation, began an attack on a twenty-five-mile front, stretching along the valley of the Aisne and opposite not only some of the most formidable of German positions, but also the most formidable of the Getman field forces. The fighting was of a desperate character. The French soldiers realized fully the task before them ; while the Germans knew that if they could not withstand, or at any rate delay, the French attack, another nail, and a very big one, would have been knocked not into the statue but the coffin of Marshal Hindenburg. But though the Germans fought with bravery and skill, nothing could withstand the valour and impetus of the French. Between the Aisne and Craonne all the first German positions wore captured at the first attack. East of Craonne and south of the Aisne as far as Courey the penetration was even deeper and more successful. In the very first operations, indeed, no fewer than ten thousand prisoners were taken, with great stores of material.
